Large numbers are getting the disease at nursing homes and similar places–and because of their age and pre-existing conditions lots are dying.
Up to 92% of those tested can be infected. In other news, 8% of the prisoners who think they have C19 don’t actually have C19 at all.
How long before he wonders whether drinking sanitizer could help kill the virus? I’d say in about another week.
When he says something like this a net should drop from the ceiling and then haul his ignorant ass off stage. I wonder how many of his ignorant followers are going to shoot themselves up with bleach.
He DOES claim to excel at everything… :rolleyes:
Bleach Boys - The Dead Milkmen, ‘Beelzebubba’
Ecuador wtf? 11536 new infections
He is now claiming the comments were sarcastic and directed to the media.
The state of play: During a signing for the interim coronavirus funding bill, the president told reporters that he “was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen” with the response, per a pool report.
He’s just so fucking exhausting.
OK, so this afternoon I moseyed on down to the protest to provide this report for y’all. I had the ferret in tow in hopes of making it clear to the police that I was not part of the demonstration, but just an innocent passerby taking his pet for a walk. Unfortunately, this plan turned out have a nearly fatal flaw: the ferret, being the epitome of cuteness, attracted so much attention from the police that I soon found myself surrounded by a large crowd of them snapping photos and asking me if they could pet it. I ended up spending more time passing the ferret around for constabulary cuddles than observing the demonstration. But I digress…
Legally speaking, there was no anti-lockdown protest today. Police withdrew permission for it just a couple hours before it was due to begin. It was explained that the advance media publicity of the event would attract more people than would be safe. (Recall that only five demonstrators were supposed to show up, probably because that’s the upper limit on public gatherings according to the current lockdown rules.) So the group that applied to hold the protest did not, in fact, show up. But several supporters who got wind of it were in attendance. It’s hard to tell just how many people I saw were part of the protest as opposed to simply observing it—I’d say there were between 100 and 200 people in all, not counting the police, but only around 30 or 40 people were actively demonstrating in the centre of the square (see this photo). On the whole, the event was pretty sedate. The protestors generally stood peacefully, talking quietly amongst themselves and keeping sufficient distance from one another. Most of them didn’t even have signs, and those that did were of the looney conspiracy theorist variety: at least a couple people had signs blaming Bill Gates for the pandemic, and one was wearing anti-vaxxer slogans. I later heard on TV that some notable far-right extremists were also in attendance, including the leader of the local Identitarian movement.
Police were there in large numbers and had the demonstration surrounded, but not in a particularly threatening way. They had batons but not full riot gear. Most of them were located well away from the crowd, loitering about in large groups in side streets. (These were the ones that intercepted me to squee over the ferret.) About an hour into the event, as the crowd swelled and became more dense, the police used LED signs and megaphones to ask the protestors to keep their distance from one another, which prompted some shouting and booing, and then some brief chants of “We are the people!” and “Kurz must go!” (referring to the federal chancellor). The protestors refused to spread out, so after a few minutes the police instructed the crowd to disperse. Most people slowly started to leave. A core group of recalcitrants, including the Bill Gates and antivaxxer conspiracy theorists, remained to shout cries of defiance to the police and to give nonsensical interviews for the news crews. A single protestor, a middle-aged man, was taken away in handcuffs, allegedly for attacking a police officer. Police systematically demanded ID from the rest of the protestors who refused to leave and then slapped them with the usual fines for breaking the lockdown rules. No further arrests were made and everything just fizzled out. The protestors collectively lost several thousand euros and some lucky police officers went home with ferret selfies to show their families.
If anyone is interested, you can see some videos of the protest. The second video on that page is a short one; it has some wide shots of the core protestors followed by (German-language) interviews with them. Several of the interviewees claim that the virus is not dangerous and that the hygiene rules advocated by the government are senseless. One man claims that Kurz doesn’t want Austrians to develop herd immunity so that he can profit from selling everyone vaccines. Several women speak out against “forced vaccinations”.
Well, if you think so, but I’d bet dollars to donuts I’d be Warned for that.
Good luck.
Moderator Note
Please don’t junior mod. If you think a post is over the line, report it.
Colibri
QZ Moderator
Which of course just makes it worse: if true (which we of course all kinda suspect it’s not), that means he’s not just ignorant and uninformed, but rather, willing to play childish mind games with the press over issues where thousands of lives are at stake. That the fact that he’s not saving face with such comments, but making himself look even worse, is not abundantly clear to him is almost more worrying than the initial comment.
Psychonaut, I assume that you are aware that ferrets can catch this virus? He may go for a walk but you might want to encourage him to socially isolate (ie no random petting). I don’t think they make masks that small. Also, I am missing cute ferret pictures.
In no way did I think his post was over the line.
I wish him well.
Moderator Instructions
Then you are complaining about moderation outside of ATMB, which is also against the rules. You said that you would receive a warning for that post, while someone else wouldn’t. But none of your warnings are for political commentary in the wrong forum; all of your warnings are for personal insults, failure to follow a moderator’s instructions, or being a jerk.
In any case, don’t complain that you are being treated unfairly outside of ATMB again. Don’t post again in this forum regarding moderation, or junior mod. Doing so may result in a warning for failure to follow instructions.
Colibri
Quarantine Zone Moderator
I’m aware of this, but I think the risk for today’s interactions was acceptably low: police officers here are regularly tested, and they wear face masks when on duty.
Here he is! His name is Knödel.
He is darling. Thanks for the picture!
My apologies. You misunderstand me, but I can see why.
Awww! (I also happen to recognize that “Knödel” is German for “dumpling”; the fact that I know this is a very long story. 
)